Protecting a forest against fire: optimal protection patterns and harvest policies
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Date
2009-08-28T22:10:35Z
Authors
Reed, William J.
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Abstract
A model for determining the optimal level of expenditure on fire protection for a forest, through time, is developed. The model requires the specification of a function relating the probability of fire at a given age to the current level of expenditure. Use of the Pontryagin Maximum Principle enables the determination of the optimal protection schedule for a single rotation with a fixed cutting age. The optimal cutting age and protection schedule for an ongoing succession of stands on a site can be determined numerically by an iterative technique.
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Keywords
forest fire protection, hazard function, forest rotation, maximum principle